A while back, Amazon (in partnership with Microsoft) started offering Online Game Codes for Xbox Live products (store front here). When it came out it had some of the more popular as well as the more expensive options, but some of the recent stuff hasn’t made it on there just yet, such as Puzzle Quest Galactrix.
In addition to games, they also offer the Live access cards as well as point cards, both at the standard prices. Let’s talk about points real quick:
80 Points ~= $1
Games vary in price (usually in $5/400 point increments) with the most popular prices as follows:
400 Points — $5 — Games like UNO and TMNT 1989 Arcade
800 Points — $10 — Games like Catan (aka The Settlers of Catan) and Carcassonne (also based on a board game)
1200 Points — $15 — Games like Portal: Still Alive and Castle Crashers
1600 Points — $20 — Games like Penny Arcade Episode 1 (starring characters from a certain web comic, oddly enough Episode 2 is only 1200 points) and Watchmen
One thing I did notice was that a 1600 Point card is $19.99, so one could save a penny and buy the card and redeem it through Xbox Live, and then use that to purchase other games. Currently, the 1600 point card is the best value, indulge my mathing a minute and you will see:
1600 Points = $19.99
4000 Points = $49.99
1600 * 5 = 8000 = 4000 * 2
$19.99 * 5 = $99.95
$49.99 * 2 = $99.98
So while the savings are small, they are there.
Now, back to the topic at hand. How does this Online Game Code situation work? I tried it out yesterday so that I could show y’all. Very simply you select a product (I chose a 1600 Point card), and click Buy and get code (once you have purchased the button will change to Buy another code).
After going through the usual purchase parts, you get to the thank you page and see that “Your Code is Ready to be Viewed” (image left) and then you have 3 options from Amazon:
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Print
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E-mail
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Send as gift
I chose option 4 and went to immediately redeem it through Xbox Live, which I was able to do without any problem and received the message below upon clicking Redeem. Additionally, a few minutes later an email from Xbox Live showed up letting me know that I had successfully redeemed a code (which could be useful if your internet connection had suddenly died, but otherwise seemed like a bit of overkill).
Code Redeemed
You have successfully redeemed a code for: Xbox LIVE 1600 Microsoft Points Prepaid Card .
If you have an additional code to redeem please enter it above.
Browse Xbox LIVE Marketplace
Go to Queue
Overall, I am quite pleased with Amazon offering the option to purchase codes, as I could gift codes to others (were I so inclined). Additionally, I am quite pleased to see that all the codes are added to my Games & Software Library for easy review. The only enhancement I would like is the ability to add notes there, so I could note when I used the code and/or to whom I sent it.